Minnesota came swinging out of the gate early this afternoon in West Lafayette, Ind., and never looked back, as they shutout Purdue 40-0. It was the 24th time the Gophers have won by a shutout since head coach J Robinson has been at Minnesota and the fifth time they have shutout the Boilermakers. The last time Minnesota shutout Purdue on the road was in 1966, when they defeated the Boilermakers 30-0.

“Anytime you shutout your opponent it is exciting,” Robinson said. “We wrestled with an aggressive attitude today. I think the biggest thing is it helps our guys with confidence and that is important as we go down this last stretch of the season.”

The dual started out at 133 lbs. where Chris Dardanes picked up a 7-6 decision over Cashe Quiroga. Both wrestlers went down to the wire trading a few takedowns and escape points, but Dardanes was able to hold in in the end.

Dardanes twin brother Nick hit the mat next for the Gophers and took down Brandon Nelson of Purdue, pretty easily with a 12-4 major decision. Dardanes recorded 2:05 min of riding time which gave him the bonus point in the end.

Fresh off scoring a fall on Friday night at Illinois, Dylan Ness dominated the Boilermakers Ivan Lopouchanski, in route to an 11-4 decision.

Following Ness, Alec Ortiz continued his hot wrestling after scoring a 5-3 decision over Tom Churchard. Ortiz let a 4-0 lead slip in the third period, but fought the entire match and was able to pull out the victory for his second win of the weekend.

“Nick (Dardanes), Dylan (Ness) and Alec (Oritz) have all made great progress,” Robinson said. “Nick is getting better and is learning how to control the mat while Dylan has picked up the intensity lately and Alec is beginning to figure things out and is bringing all the little things together.”

Cody Yohn closed out the first half of action for the Gophers with a 4-1 decision over Kyle Mosier. It was a good win for Yohn who came up short in Friday night’s win at Illinois.

After the intermission Minnesota dominated the final matches by picking up bonus points in all five matches.

Freshman Logan Storley continues to open up eyes around the country and he did so today by picking up a 10-1 major decision over Drake Stein.

Kevin Steinhaus was next to take the mat for Minnesota and had no trouble with Braden Atwood as he picked up a 17-5 major decision.

At 197 lbs. Scott Schiller stepped in the inner circle in place of Sonny Yohn. Schiller gave the Gophers even more to celebrate, after he posted a 21-6 win by a technical fall.

Tony Nelson pinned Roger Vukobratovich with 50 seconds left in the first period and No. 1 ranked Zach Sanders won by a 19-4 technical fall over Luke Schroeder, to close out the Gophers afternoon in West Lafayette.

Minnesota will be home a week from today when they host Wisconsin in the annual “Border Battle” at the Sports Pavilion. Action is set to get underway at Noon.